HC Deb 25 June 1896 vol 42 cc74-5
CAPTAIN NORTON (Newington, W.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, whether he will consider the advisability of reducing the period for which the Director General Army Medical Staff is appointed from seven to five years, this latter being the period for which all other Staff appointments in the Army are held?

*MR. BRODRICK

The Royal Commission of 1858 on the sanitary condition of the Army, over which Lord Herbert presided, recommended that the appointment of Director General should be for a longer period than five years, and Lord Herbert himself, when Secretary of State, fixed the period at seven years, which has since been maintained. Nothing has occurred to induce the Secretary of State to think that any alteration in the period of tenure is necessary or desirable.